1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a methodology that enables a standards registrar to meet accreditation requirements of governmental or quasi-governmental agencies.
2. Background
The fierce competition of the 1980s taught American business and industry an unforgettable lesson: Firms that do not provide quality products and services do not thrive, and may not survive. In the 1990s, and on into the 21st century, the definition of quality broadened beyond the caliber of the product or service itself. This extension includes every aspect of providing a product or service, from selling through delivery, to billing and after-sale service.
When choosing suppliers for materials, parts or services, customers at every level, whether industrial, wholesale or retail, need and want a guarantee that they will receive all-around quality. That demand can be met through a comprehensive approach to quality management. As such various national and international organizations have developed series of standards which apply to quality, environmental, occupational health and safety, and other management systems. For example, international and national standards such as ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001/9002:1994, QS-9000, ISO/TS 16949, VDA 6.1, TL 9000, ISO 13485, the Tooling and Equipment (TE) Supplement, the Semiconductor Supplement, ISO 14001, AS9100, ISO/IEC 17025 and OHSAS 18001, have been developed to provide a measure and method for quality management in various industrial and commercial concerns. A standards registrar provides a third-party certification that a particular organization conforms to one or more of such national and/or international standards. As such, standards registrars typically must be recognized or accredited by various national and/or international governmental or quasi-governmental agencies as also possessing a level of competence that the registrar's certification may be relied upon. Examples of such governmental or quasi-governmental agencies include the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB) in the United States, the RvA of the Netherlands, the UKAS of Great britain, TGA of Germany, JAB of Japan, and INMETRO of Brazil. As more and more countries and industries recognize the importance of quality standards, the need for certification and registration continues to increase with an associated increase of standards registrars and national and international accrediting bodies.
The word “quality” itself is the cause of much confusion. Quality is defined by the international standards organization (ISO) in ISO 9000:2000, 3.1.1 as the “degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements” and by ISO 8402:1994, 2.1 as the “totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. ” Achieving a satisfactory level of quality involves all activities having an influence on quality.
For the purposes of attaining customer satisfaction, quality means fitness for purpose or fitness of use. Simply stated, it is the ability to meet a given need. Whether the quality of a product or a service is appropriate, depends on the need(s) it is meant to fulfill. For example, the fitting of bathroom floor tiles for the restrooms in a local shopping mall would be determined by quite different standards from tiles meant for the bathroom of a private home. Likewise, a cleaning service used by a laboratory will need to meet different standards from one used by an insurance office. As such, before quality can be determined or judged, it is necessary to understand the measure, which is generally based on the customer's requirements. These requirements are not limited simply to the product or service, however. They encompass all other aspects of the transaction, including price, delivery and its timing, and after-sale service.
The history of quality can be traced as far back as the days of the caveman. A self-sufficient caveman was both a supplier and user. In order to be both, he had to know exactly what was needed, fulfilling the customer requirement, and then became a supplier by creating or manufacturing that item. This common-sense methodology has been passed down through the generations of mankind and is still in practice today. The same concepts can be applied to internal suppliers and customers. Internally, quality also means timely delivery of the product or service required to meet a defined need. The correct and properly made rough castings, for example, must be delivered in the right number to the matching area when they are needed. The company's mail must be correctly sorted and delivered according to schedule, etc.
The chief goal of many businesses is to make a profit for the owner, whether an individual, a partnership or several thousand stockholders, through selling goods or services. Over time, businesses have employed many different strategies to improve their prospects of making a profit. Quality management provides important benefits for customers, but it is even more valuable to the firm. With quality management, companies can improve revenues and cut costs. Superior quality helps companies compete more successfully for new customers. It is also critical in retaining current customers. It is well known that it costs much more—estimates range from 5 to 20 times more, depending on the industry—to attract a new customer than to retain a present one. At the same time, internal efficiency improves, providing additional cost savings. Quality management prevents inefficiencies and the related labor, material, machine, and inventory costs. It also helps a company avoid the costs of delayed payments, reshipment, and repeated service calls. Without question, the quality imperative is healthy for business and industry, consumers and the economy as a whole.
Quality expert Dr. W. Edwards Deming, who introduced quality concepts and processes to the Japanese in 1950 with results that have shaken business and industry worldwide, describes the results of quality achievement as a chain reaction:                Improve Quality—Improve Productivity—Decrease Costs—Decrease Prices—Increase Market Share—Stay in Business—Provide More Jobs—Return of Investment.        
Fear, confusion, or excessive optimism are sometimes generated by the prospect of a quality management system or audit. Managers envision loss of decision-making authority, downtime due to excruciatingly thorough inspections, loss of productivity, mountains of paperwork, and huge costs. Workers often fear punitive actions. Conversely, both managers and workers sometimes expect quality management to solve all the company's problems. But quality management is not a cure-all. It can resolve some problems, but it offers no miracle cure. It will do none of the aforementioned things.
Quality auditors are generally not responsible for technical decisions, and quality management auditing is not inspection. While reports are made, paperwork for managers and workers is moderate to minimal. The cost of quality management is relatively small and is normally more than offset by cost savings.
Businesses today are increasingly embracing quality management as a major profit-making strategy. The fact that quality management has become such a prominent strategy in a relatively short time testifies to its extraordinary effectiveness.
As the number of national and international accrediting bodies increases in response to the recognition by business of the importance of quality management, it becomes increasingly more difficult for registrar's to meet the often differing requirements of the various accrediting agencies. This problem becomes particularly acute for registrars seeking accreditation from multiple national and international agencies.